150 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



extensively engaged in bee-keeping. He 

 raised good crops of honey; at the same time 

 he took good care that there should be a 

 quite a little increase. He had a splendid 

 cellar and usually wintered his bees success- 

 fully. In the spring he frequently had 200 

 or 300 colonies of bees to sell, and he sold 

 them at fair prices. "I tell you," he has 

 said to me more than once, "that's where 

 there is money in bee-keeping — selling bees 

 in the spring." A man, to succeed, ought to 

 look the ground over carefully, and then de- 

 cide in what manner, all things considered, 

 he can make the most profit. — Ed. Review.] 



Spring and Summer Management with 



Small, Divisible Brood-Chamber Hives, 



and Swarm Catchers. 



B. TAYLOB. 



fN ATTEMPTING to describe my meth- 

 od of using my small hives, I scarcely 

 know where to begin. The possibilities 

 with such hives are so great, and the useful 

 things that can be accomplished with them 

 are so many, that it would take a small vol- 

 ume to tell it all, and I will only attempt in 

 this article to explain my method. 



Where no increase is desired, the bees are 

 placed upon their stands in the spring about 

 the time soft maples bloom. After a good 

 flight they are examined to ascertain if they 

 have a queen and sufficient stores. If so, 

 they have a shallow box of sawdust, 2% in- 

 ches deep, placed between two bottom boards 

 under the hives to keep the cold out at that 

 point, which is where the most of it enters. 

 Another similar box, with building paper 

 nailed or. one side for a bottom, is filled 

 with sawdust and placed on top to keep the 

 heat from escaping. (I rom the top is where 

 most of it does escape. ) The bees are then 

 left undisturbed, until near swarming time, 

 unless something should seem to need es- 

 pecial attention. 



The hives, when placed on the stands in 

 the spring, are composed of two sections 

 of my small hive. Each section is IG-inches 

 square, outside measure, and contains 10 

 combs 13 inches long and ^y, inches deep. 

 Near swarming time, when they are of prop- 

 er strength, the top section is placed below 

 and the bottom one on top, a case of sec- 

 tions put on, and swarming time awaited. 



The swarm catchers are made ready, and, 

 when a swarm is seen issuing, a catcher is 



quickly adjusted to the entrance of the hive 

 and in five minutes the bees are all in, when 

 the catcher entrance is closed, and bees and 

 all are carried into the wintering cellar near 

 by and leaned against the wall, where they 

 may remain until a convenient time for hiv- 

 ing them, even if it should not be for two 



/// """""~7'^\ 



— -^Mff 



TATLOK S SWABM OATOHEK. 



days. When I am ready to hive them I go 

 to the hive from which they issued, set it on 

 the ground, put an empty hive filled with 

 foundation or starters on the old stand, place 

 the under section of the hive that swarmed, 

 with its brood and young bees, on top of 

 this, and the case of sections from the old 

 hive on top of all, with a queen excluding 

 honey board under it. If needed, an extra 

 case of sections is given. A sheet is spread 

 in front and the bees brought from the cel- 

 lar, the coolness of which has Vjy this time 

 hushed them to deathly stillness. We shake 

 them upon the sheet, when they march in 

 without fifty bees taking wing. Three cheers 

 for the swarm catcher, worth its weight in 

 clover honey, for a single season, to any ex- 

 pert bee-keeper. 



The remaining section of the old swarm 

 with its brood and queen cells are removed 

 to a temporary stand in any convenient 

 place, and within a day or two all queen 

 cells are carefully destroyed. And I will say 

 right here that after many years of experi- 

 ence and handling of thousands of this kind 

 of hive, I have never known a case where the 

 whole of the queen cells were not in the top 

 section of the hive, and this is the reason for 

 putting the bottom section with the new 

 swarm, as we want no queen cell with it. 

 The section on the temporary stand is ex- 

 amined for (lueen cells and kept hopelessly 

 queenless. When all the bees are hatched, 

 they are shaken out in front of any swarm 

 where most needed. And please remember 

 that these young queenless bees will be re- 



